"Nude" Bra Alternatives For Dark-Skinned Women: Take Two

In one of my previous blog posts, I lamented that finding a "nude" bra if you are dark-skinned is difficult.  However, it is almost impossible if you are both dark-skinned and full-busted.  Sam from Broad Lingerie kindly shared her vast knowledge of bras and offered valuable options to mitigate this issue in a guest post. So now I offer some non-bra alternatives to the dark-skinned-nude bra dilemma.  

One option is to find a regular tank top or short sleeved shirt that matches your skin tone, but there will most likely be seams and bulk.  However, there are a few companies that make seamless tanks that can be discretely worn underneath garments.  The first is the Commando Classic Tank, which comes in both "True Nude" and "Dark Nude."  For the record, I take issue with the label "True Nude."  True for who?  Certainly not "true" for me and certainly not "true" for millions of women, but that's a whole 'nother issue.  I passed on buying the Commando Classic Tank because I was a bit put off by the labeling and the dark nude wasn't dark enough for my skin tone.  Instead, I purchased the Hanky Panky BARE Scoop Neck Tank in mahogany (I do wish that they'd label the mahogany "BARE" just like they do the taupe).  It's thin and has minimal seams, so it paired well with even my thinnest shirts.  Also, the mahogany blends into my skin color well and I was able to wear the White Classic Short Sleeved Shirt and the tank didn't show through.  Since most of the bras that I own have patterns, lace or bright colors (I've outgrown my only "true" nude for me bra, the Freya Deco Vibe in Mocha.  The bra tops out at GG, but now I'm an H cup), I was finding it difficult to wear thin, light colored shirts and dresses.  Hanky Panky really saved the day!...for me at least.  The taupe is too light for light brown complexions and the mahogany is too dark.  So please post a comment if you know of alternatives for light brown complexions and everything in between.

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1 comment

Hi Kristen,
Thank you so much for featuring our BARE tank!

People with lighter brown complexions usually opt for our “Toffee” shade in BARE, or either Suntan or Cappuccino in our Signature Lace. Unfortunately those colors are only available in bottoms at present. I have shared your feedback with our merchandising and planning teams and suggested we add more skin tones to our camisole assortment in future collections.

The “Taupe/BARE” label you saw on our website was a programming quirk to differentiate the swatches of same color name in different fabrics, to make it easier for our e-commerce team to tell the difference, especially when the swatches are small and light in color, it can be hard to differentiate. Because Mahogany and Toffee are only available in BARE, they don’t need the differentiation.

Hanky Panky is a diverse company and we feel strongly that “Nude” should not be used as a color name on our products. You can read more about skin-tone lingerie from Hanky Panky on our blog=> http://blog.hankypanky.com/nude-is-not-a-color/

Best,
Larissa King, Senior Designer, Hanky Panky Ltd.

Larissa

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